Daisy Khan Visits The College of Saint Rose

THE MODERN MUSLIM WOMAN: BALANCING WESTERN FREEDOMS AND ISLAMIC CULTUREDaisy Khan will present this lecture on Thursday, April 11, 2013 at 7:30 pm in the Hubbard Interfaith Sanctuary. Daisy was born in Kashmir, India and is Executive Director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA), a non-profit organization dedicated to developing an American Muslim identity while building bridges between the Muslim community and the general public through dialogues in faith, identity, culture, and the arts. Ms. Khan mentors young Muslims on challenges of assimilation, gender, religion and modernity, and intergenerational differences. Ms. Khan will discuss the challenges of western culture and modernity that Muslim women face today.Daisy Khan has lectured at prestigious forums such as the Council of Foreign relations, Aspen Institute and the Chautauqua Institution. She has appeared on CNN, Al Jazeera, and BBC World, and NPR, and often contributes to documentaries on Islam and Muslims. She is a weekly columnist for the Washington Post’s “On Faith” and is frequently quoted in print publications such as Time Magazine, Newsweek, the Chicago Tribune, and the New York Times.

Ms. Khan is married to Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. Imam Rauf and Ms. Khan proposed building the Islamic Community Center named Cordoba House, near Ground Zero. The community Center created a national conversation about the rise of Islamophobia in the US. Ms. Khan appeared in various TV appearances including a special town hall meeting in 2010 with Christiane Amanpour on ABC’s This Week which helped shift the narrative on how the media covered Islam and Muslims in America.

In the aftermath of 9/11, Ms. Khan has created interfaith programs to emphasize commonalities among the Abrahamic faith traditions, such as a groundbreaking theater piece entitled Same Difference and the interfaith Cordoba Bread Fest. On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Ms. Khan brought together 300 people of all religions for a night of remembrance. The event, entitled In Good Faith: Stories of Hope and Resilience, highlighted hundreds of bridge-building projects undertaken since 9/11, while also paying tribute to the families of 9/11 victims of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths.